Non-Face-to-Face Care for Elderly Living Alone... Seoul City Expands to 10,000 Households

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] A system that installs Internet of Things (IoT) sensors in the homes of elderly people living alone and dispatches 119 emergency responders when abnormal situations are detected will be installed in 10,000 households across Seoul by the end of the year.

Seoul City announced on the 11th that it will expand the "Vulnerable Elderly Safety Management Solution Project," which provides such non-face-to-face care services. The purpose is to fill the care gap for the elderly caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the closure of welfare facilities and reduction of face-to-face services, thereby minimizing blind spots.

Data detected in elderly households is transmitted in real time to the mobile devices of the assigned care workers, and if no movement is detected for a certain period or abnormalities in temperature, etc., responses such as 119 emergency calls are made. The target group includes elderly households aged 65 or older who receive basic living subsidies, belong to the lower-income bracket, or receive basic pensions, and who require safety checks due to family disconnection, voluntary seclusion, depression, or similar reasons.

This project started as a pilot in March 2017, expanded to 2,800 households in 2018, 5,000 households in 2019, and this year, installation was completed for the originally planned 7,500,000 households.

Through this project, from 2018 to July this year, 135 dangerous situations were detected and proactively addressed, such as discovering elderly people who had fallen at home and transporting them to hospitals, or finding dementia patients wandering outside their homes. Among the elderly using the service, there has been not a single case of solitary death.

Kim Seon-soon, Director of Seoul City Welfare Policy Office, said, "We will establish a smart welfare foundation with non-face-to-face care service technology in line with the post-COVID era."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.